Saturday-Night Theatre: A Stone from Heaven

Sat 15th Apr 1995, 19:50 on BBC Radio 4 FM

Concluding Lindsay Clarke's two-part play. 

This two-part play by Lindsay Clarke, captures all the magic and mystery of one of the greatest of all European tales - the story of the Grail.

2: The Healing. 

The fantastic adventures of Sir Gawain at the Castle of Marvels bring Parsifal closer and closer to the finding of the Grail. Both Parsifal, the Holy Fool, and the noble courtier, Gawain, have been shamed before Arthur's Court by Cundrîe, the Sorceress. Each has set out to regain his lost honour: Parsifal at the vanished Castle of the Grail; Gawain at the Castle of the Marvels.

Producer Nigel Bryant

Gahmuret was a born soldier. He could not bear to stay behind while there was fighting to be done and glory to be won, so he set off to lands well beyond Europe's borders. He served the Caliph of Baghdad, and eventually found himself on the shores of the African city of Zazamanc, where he fell in love with the Queen Belakane. He would leave her for the call of trumpets elsewhere, granting her a son, half white, half black. Eventually he would fight for a Welsh Queen, Herzeloyde, and win her hand, as well. He gave her a son, too, and left her, dying on the road to a new battle. She went mad, grabbing up her son and fleeing to the forest, where she raised him much like a wild animal.

That son's name was Parsifal.

Parsifal will leave her, too, to learn about being a knight where he will have a chance to get the Grail back for the world. When the opportunity arises, he remembers the advice he was given by his old tutor to never, ever ask questions, for a wise Knight never willingly reveals his ignorance. But this is his downfall for when he sees the Grail, Parsifal keeps silent instead of asking the one question that will bring him triumph. Mocked at King Arthur's court for his failure, he is determined to regain his honour by finding the Grail once more. But how can one find something that only appears to a person once, and never again?

"The Stone from Heaven" is a retelling of Chrétien de Troyes's epic 1191 poem, "Perceval, le Conte du Graal" (Perceval, the Story of the Grail), most especially Wolfram von Eschenbach's version. Lindsay Clarke admits to streamlining the story in the hopes of interesting people of all ages and hoped it would inspire them to seek out the original text.

Note: Lindsay Clarke later adapted his radio play as a novel in 2001, called "Parzival and the Stone From Heaven: A Grail Romance Retold for Our Time”.[suttonelms]

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